Forty Fickle Firsties
by AshleyofRavenclaw
Summary: Follow the adventures of the original forty during their first year at Hogwarts in forty drabbles.  Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling and do not own Harry Potter or any of her creations or characters.
1. Abbott, Hannah

**Fluffy**. That was the best way to describe the Hufflepuff Common Room. Hannah wasn't quite sure why fluffy was the correct word, but it seemed fitting. Her bed was fluffy, the yellow chairs sitting around various places were fluffy, her robes were fluffy, even the carpeting was fluffy. It was perfect and she was rather unhappy to leave the fluffy place behind for a whole season.

Twelve year old Hannah Abbott stood in the middle of her Common Room bearing a frown on her face, recalling all of the memories that she and her new friends had made within the Badger's domain. Although there was no place like home, her life was not going to be the same without Hogwarts and all of Hufflepuff. Tears began to swarm her light hazel eyes as she let out a long deep breath, feeling a light tap on her shoulder.

"Are you ready for the end of year feast, Hannah?" questioned her best friend, Ernie Macmillan. Hannah turned to face the stout boy just after wiping her eyes dry with the sleeve of her robe. "What's wrong?" Ernie asked, tilting his head to the sad as if surveying her like a curious puppy. Hannah thought she would be able to make it seem as if she had not been crying at all, but apparently it was more obvious than she hoped.

"Oh Ernie, I'm going to miss this place! I'm going to miss you, the smells of the kitchens, the fluffy beds. I'm going to miss everything!" she cried, falling into the warm arms of her friend. Ernie hugged her tightly, coaxing her as if a mother to a young child.

"You won't miss homework or Snape or studying for exams," Ernie said, hopeful. Hannah let out a giggle, "Well yes, I suppose you are right," Hannah said, trying to think of all the good things at home.

"And besides, we promised to owl each other each day and our parents already said we can make plans to meet each other in Diagon Alley. Don't you worry, I will not go through a whole summer of not seeing my best friend."

Hannah knew she was the luckiest twelve year old in the whole wide world to have friends like Ernie and a place like Hogwarts to call her own.


	2. Bones, Susan

"**HUFFLEPUFF**!" It was the one house that eleven year old Susan Bones was not expecting to hear. She thought for sure she was going to follow in the path of her father and older brother and be in Gryffindor, but she was quickly proven wrong after the Sorting Hat's rather smug answer. She thought the old fraying hat was going to be friendly, but it was the complete opposite of that. It was quite conceited in her opinion. After hearing her new house name echoing throughout the Great Hall and applause erupting from the Hufflepuff table, Susan tossed the hat onto the stool and walked as fast as she good to her new table, dropping down into a seat beside an older student.

"Congratulations!" said several jovial students sitting around her. Susan gave them the most friendly smile that she could muster as she glanced over her shoulder to her brother sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table, a sad smile on his face. Susan frowned and turned back around and introduced herself to the Hufflepuff that was sorted just before her, Hannah. Susan determined that the girl appeared pleasant enough, and decided to continue speaking to her.

"Who else do you think will be sorted into Hufflepuff?" Susan whispered to Hannah, nudging her to the crowd they just came from. They watched as a girl with long black curly hair was sorted into Ravenclaw just like the previous student and then as another girl called Lavender was called forward. Susan and Hannah both scanned the small group watching as Lavender became the first Gryffindor.

"Definitely not Millicent," Hannah said, pointing to the next girl approaching the stool. Susan agreed, noticing that the large girl was sneering at the crowd, her eyes focused on the Slytherin table. "I agree," said Susan while Millicent was sorted into Slytherin, and seeming rather happy to be there. Susan admitted to herself that she enjoyed the distraction that Hannah was providing to her, it made her forget about her brother who sat quietly at the Gryffindor table. In fact, no other students appeared as cheerful and talkative as her own table and for the first time since she sat down, she felt as if she were in the right place.

At the end of the sorting, Susan and her new friend giggled over the fact of how badly they guessed, so much that they only guessed correctly for two students (Ernie and Megan). They continued the game with each student that sat down with them, and it made for a fun and entertaining ceremony. Susan especially appreciated it because she was able to get to know her fellow house mates, whom all seemed very warming. By the end of the night when Susan was readying herself for bed, she fell asleep with a smile- wishing all of her new friends a good night sleep, excited for a new day at Hogwarts.


	3. Boot, Terry

Growing up, Terry Boot's parents always told him that if he wanted to attend Hogwarts, he would have to stick through public schooling until he was eleven. Of course Terry always hated it and complained about it every single morning, but he continued to attend. It was far too ridiculous to not go if he were going to be forced to be homeschooled instead of going to Hogwarts. His mother was muggleborn and she loved to remind Terry's whole family about it. Walking into his house reminding him painfully of walking into a muggle house, not that he had anything against muggles.-just their children he was forced to go to school with. All throughout his young childhood, his mother would drag him over to neighbor's houses for play dates with the other children that always regarded Terry as something closely resembled to an ugly beetle. And he often felt like one.

Terry was quite different from the other children in his school, other than the whole "I'm a wizard and can and will do uncontrollable magic at times" thing. While the other boys enjoyed playing in the mud, Terry enjoyed keeping clean and reading books. The boys called him weird-o and nerd and would throw dirt and mud at him. It was quite painful to deal with, and so often he begged and pleaded with his parents to let him stay home like all the other wizarding children.

Never once in Terry's six years of schooling did he make a friend or even someone that showed the slightest interest in him, so when he started at Hogwarts and became best friends with Michael and Anthony, he was utterly flabbergasted. He was finally in a place where people respected him for who he was, sharing their favorite books that they've read, playing Wizards Chess (which was a lot more fun than regular chess club in his primary school), and talking about everything. He felt overjoyed whenever he saw his two best friends and he knew that they would never mock him or never throw dirt at him, unless of course they happened to be stuck outside the castle when it started pouring rain and decided that a mud fight would be the best way to entertain themselves. But for once in his life, Terry was alright with wearing a suit of mud. He was happy.


	4. Brocklehurst, Mandy

**Uninteresting** was the easiest way to explain how Mandy felt about her first month at Hogwarts. After hearing all of the stories that her older brother Campbell told, she felt as if there was nothing left to experience. She was quickly sorted into Ravenclaw, just as he was the year previously, so there was no excitement left in discovering the common room herself. Even the Professors and the classes, aside from Defense Against the Dark Arts, were the same. Campbell often told her she was a pessimist and a bore and that she ought to get out and wander around the castle. Of course that just made her angry and forced her to stay cooped up in the library, where she had sought refuge away from the other Ravenclaws. The library was the one thing she had found slightly fascinating, since she always loved reading. There were books upon books piled on top of one other! And although Mandy had not made one single human friend, at least she knew she would have company in a good book. After all, books did not gloat nor were they annoying, unlike everyone else in the damned castle.

* * *

><p>Author's Note:<p>

I always imagined Mandy to be quite pessimistic and here it is shown early. She lives in the shadow of her well-liked, happy-go-lucky, talented brother and becomes annoyed with him very easily. All she really wants is a friend but she finds everyone too intolerable. If only she would give a few others a chance!


	5. Brown, Lavender

**Fearless.** That was how one was supposed to feel as a Gryffindor, right? All of the other Gryffindor first years seemed that way. They were loud (perhaps a bit _too_ loud) and very gutsy. The first night after arriving at Hogwarts, a few of them thought it would be a fun adventure to wander around the castle at night. But, Lavender, despite always being the bravest one out of all her cousins before coming to Hogwarts, was too _scared_ to go out and wander around the castle!

It was not long when she began to think that she did not belong in Gryffindor. The rest of them seemed not to think twice but not even once about what daring things they could attempt, while Lavender created a habit of going to bed extra early to avoid making excuses. She figured that soon, someone would catch on to her nerves and call her out, forcing her to go somewhere like Hufflepuff. She could only imagine the smug look on her cousins faces. And it was that thought that pushed her out of her bed and forced her down to the Common Room, footed pajamas and all.

There was no way she was going to let her cousins prove her wrong! But, as Lavender began to walk down the staircase, she froze. What if she did leave the Common Room and was caught and then expelled? What would her parents say? She could not even fathom getting a detention; it would be much too embarrassing!

"Are you going down?" asked a quiet voice from the entrance to the first year girl's dormitory. Lavender turned around, already feeling stupid. She could not even go down to the Common Room and confront the rest of her year, never mind mingle with them. She had no choice but to turn around before making it any worse.

Padma Patil stood behind her, already in her night clothes as well. Lavender could have sworn that nobody else was in the dormitory when she had "gone to sleep". She shook her head, "No. I'm apparently not brave enough to be in this house. You must think me to be a coward for not wanting to join in on the adventures. I was hoping not to get caught but-"

"I think quite the opposite, actually. Those adventures don't prove anything." If Lavender had not saw Padma's tired look, she would not have believed what she said.

"But you go with Seamus and them every night!"

"They always return right away, especially after Dean almost had us all caught on the first night. They aren't very brave as much as pseudo-macho. They never think anything through. I think you're braver for being able to say no."

Lavender could not help but suppress a smile. "I bet Seamus squealed like a child when you almost got caught!" She erupted in giggles when Parvati nodded.

"I think Dean may have wet himself!" Lavender could not hold it in after this point; she could only imagine the looks on Dean and Seamus' faces.

The two girls continued to giggle and gossip for the rest of the night, a night that would ultimately lead to what they believed to be the greatest "best friendship" of all.


	6. Bulstrode, Millicent

**Before **Millicent left for Hogwarts she would do anything to get away from her home. This often meant knitting (by hand since she could not use magic) at her Auntie Floral's house in the middle of nowhere, but it beat being surrounded by her obscene amount of brothers. There were seven of them in total and she was the only girl. There were four older and three younger. The four older were the rather aggressive type and picked on Millicent insistently while she was growing up. Their behaviors caused her to become aggressive and domineering herself, thus continuing the tradition by picking on her younger brothers. But as they got older they became less timid and more annoying, which left Millicent feeling helpless sometimes.

By the time Hogwarts came around, all of her older brothers but one had left school. He was the softer of the bunch, all though he was still quite the prat. She made it her plan to ignore him as much as possible throughout the year, which she found fairly easy. However, Millicent learned that the foul attitude that she grew accustomed to was not appreciated by others. In fact, they began to resent her and appeared to be afraid of her. Nobody, not one single person, attempted to befriend her. And contrary to popular belief in the first year Slytherin girl's dormitory, she was quite afraid of them. She had learned barely any social skills other than punching and teasing while growing up. Eventually the lack of friendship made her feel lonely, and for the first time ever in her life, she craved being home.

By the time Christmas came around, Millicent left happily, and not because of the same reasons as the other students. She knew that there would not be much presents for her at home nor would there be much food, but there was the constant presence of people that really did not mind her much. Although her brothers could be abusive and sharp, and her mother was slightly withdrawn, at least they were her family and they were not scared of her. When Millicent returned to Hogwarts after Christmas she felt herself more at ease and comfortable with everyone around her, although her anxiety was not completely gone. The other girls in her dormitory began opening up to her, the first being Daphne who told Millicent (in secret) that her robes were tucked into the back of her skirt. She was not angry when told but happy. Happy that finally, someone was looking out for her, and maybe, just maybe, she would make some friends without scaring them away.


	7. Corner, Michael

**Tiny.** It was the only thing that Michael Corner felt during his first year at Hogwarts. The castle was more colossal than he imagined. Even the Suites of Armor, which he could have sworn he heard talking a few times, were gigantic. He never imagined that something in the world could be so amazing and vast. Michael already knew and did not need reminding that he was a tiny person (he was the shortest out of all the other first year Ravenclaw boys) but Hogwarts made him feel somewhat insignificant. For the first time in his life he felt overwhelmed, mostly when he had to leave for class. He would leave extra early before anyone else so he did not get lost. It was very unfortunate that the classrooms sometimes amused themselves by moving or that he would fall into a trick doorstep or end up somewhere he had never been before.

During his second week in Potions class, he arrived just a few minutes too late, and Professor Snape cheerily gave him a detention. He tried countering back with the old bat, but he did not budge never mind listen. It was infuriating.

But as much as the castle could be overwhelming it was also magnificent and full of adventures and mysteries. Getting lost was how he became to know Terry Boot and Anthony Goldstein. Terry was a chatty bloke, which Michael initially find annoying but began to appreciate when the trio got lost. Terry was able to splutter out directions around the castle like no other, as if he had been there forever. Anthony was quiet and a bit of a geek, but he laughed at Michael's silly jokes and was often full of his own. And after their first adventure of getting lost, the three of them often left the studious Ravenclaw Common Room to take part in more. The best ones were when they could not answer the riddle to the Common Room and were left to leave the tower when nobody else was around to help solve the question. The three would brainstorm what the answer could possibly be while running around, almost mischievously.

When his first year came to a close, Michael was really sad about leaving. Although it would be just a few months, at his age it seemed like an eternity. And as he left behind Terry and Anthony at Platform 9 and ¾, he promised them that when they returned for their second year that he would grow six inches and tower over them. Despite his promise, his nickname would always be "Tiny Mike".


End file.
